UFLP Technology Management Review

Overall, I would describe my experience at Unilever as very positive and valuable, particularly in terms of hands‑on exposure and breadth of experience. Across my time there, I was given real responsibility, worked on live business problems, and had the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of people across functions, seniority levels, and geographies. This helped me build strong stakeholder management skills, understand how a large organisation operates, and gain practical experience in data, technology, and business environments rather than just observing from the sidelines .
That said, working in a large organisation also meant that things often moved quite slowly, with multiple dependencies, approvals, and shifting priorities. As an entry‑level employee, this sometimes made it harder to experience rapid progression or continuous learning without being proactive in seeking opportunities. Also there have been a lot of changes in the organisation that is still settling so things can feel abit chaotic.

Across my three placements, my main responsibility has been working at the intersection of data, technology, and business teams to help translate complex requirements into clear, usable outcomes. In my first placement within a research and development environment, I supported delivery across multiple workstreams by coordinating stakeholders, improving reporting and documentation, and helping resolve data quality and integration challenges so teams could make better decisions. This role also involved communicating progress clearly, managing ambiguity, and contributing to cross‑functional engagement activities, which strengthened my confidence and stakeholder management skills .
In my second placement within a data‑focused team, I worked on more exploratory and forward‑looking initiatives, analysing existing ways of working, identifying opportunities to reduce manual effort through automation, and testing how emerging digital capabilities could support faster and more informed decision‑making. Most recently, in my third placement within operations, I took on greater end‑to‑end ownership by leading the delivery of automated reporting, supporting data strategy work, and ensuring effective knowledge transfer so solutions were sustainable beyond my involvement. What I’ve enjoyed most across all three placements is being trusted with responsibility, solving real problems, and seeing the tangible impact of clearer data and processes on how teams operate day to day .

Yes

Very welcoming environment to work in and lots of opportunities to experience. Benefits are really good

Not much at all the experience and learnings promised have not matched the job description/interview conversations and they struggle to find placements that make a graduate well rounded from a data track perspective.